Thursday, August 28, 2008

All time best seasons for Tigers pitchers

A couple of weeks ago, I listed the top seasons for Tigers rookie pitchers. Today, I'm presenting the all time top Tigers pitching seasons. Using the same criteria as I did for the rookies, I ranked the top 15 seasons ever in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Top 15 Tigers pitching seasons

Rank

Player

Year

IP

W

L

ERA

ERA+

RSAA

WS

1

Hal Newhouser

1946

293

26

9

1.94

188

60

33

2

Hal Newhouser

1945

312

25

9

1.81

195

59

38

3

Bobo Newsome

1940

264

21

5

2.83

167

60

26

4

Dizzy Trout

1944

352

27

14

2.12

168

57

42

5

Hal Newhouser

1944

292

29

9

2.22

161

47

35

6

Denny McLain

1968

336

31

6

1.96

154

42

33

7

Virgil Trucks

1949

275

19

11

2.81

148

52

27

8

Bobo Newsome

1939

246

17

10

3.37

145

50

23

9

Dizzy Trout

1946

276

17

13

2.35

155

44

27

10

Mark Fidrych

1976

250

19

9

2.34

158

38

27

11

Hank Aguirre

1962

216

16

8

2.21

184

54

22

12

Jim Bunning

1957

267

20

8

2.70

143

40

26

13

Tommy Bridges

1936

295

23

11

3.60

137

39

26

14

Justin Thompson

1997

223

15

11

3.02

151

40

21

15

John Hiller

1973

125

10

5

1.44

285

34

31

Notes:

Hal Newhouser (1946)

Newhouser's numbers may been slightly better in 1945 but he may have been aided by the dilution of talent created by players serving in World War II. Thus, I went with his 1946 season as the top year for a Tigers pitcher. Newhouser finished 2nd in the American League MVP voting. He led the league in ERA (1.94) wins (26) and strikeout rate (8.46 per 9 IP).

Hal Newhouser (1945)

Newhouser won the AL MVP award by finishing first in ERA (1.81), wins (25), innings (313), complete games (29), shutouts (8) and strikeouts (212). He also won two World Series games.

Bobo Newsome (1940)

Newsome finished 4th in the MVP voting. He was second in ERA (2.83) and wins (21). He won two games in the 1940 World Series before losing a 2-1 pitchers duel in game 7.

Dizzy Trout (1944)

A case could be made that Trout was helped by the diluted talent pool as 1944 was his best year. However, his strong season in 1946 season makes his '44 season look legitimate. Trout finished first in ERA (2.12), innings (352), complete games (33) and shutouts (7).

Hal Newhouser (1944)

Newhouser finished first in wins (29) and strikeouts (187) and second in complete games (25) and shutouts (6) . His performance earned him the AL MVP award.

Denny McLain (1968)

McLain was baseball's last 30 game winner. He won the CY Young, the MVP and helped lead the Tigers to the World Championship.

Virgil Trucks (1949)

Trucks finished first in strikeouts (153), second in WHIP (1.211) and third in ERA (2.81).

Bobo Newsome (1939)

After being acquired from the St. Louis Browns early in the season, Newhouser went on finish first in complete games (24), third in wins (20) and second in strikeouts (192) for the two teams combined. Of his 291 total innings, 246 came with the Tigers.

Dizzy Trout (1946)

Trout's season was overshadowed by Newhouser's great year but he finished 3rd in the league in ERA+ (155), sixth in ERA (2.35) and was in the top ten in innings, shutouts, complete games, strikeouts and wins.

Mark Fidrych (1976)

The charismatic Fidrych had one of the most famous and best rookie seasons in baseball history. He led the league with a 2.34 ERA and 24 complete games and won the Rookie of the Year award. He finished second to Jim Palmer in the Cy Young voting.

Hank Aguirre (1962)

Aguirre had an outstanding season as a starter and reliever amassing 16 wins, 10 saves and leading the league with a 2.21 ERA and 6.75 hits per nine innings.

Jim Bunning (1957)

Bunning led the league in wins (20) and innings (267) and was second in strikeouts (182) and third in ERA (2.70).

Tommy Bridges (1936)

In arguably his best of several great seasons, Bridges finished first in wins (23) and strikeouts (175) and fourth in ERA (3.60).

Justin Thompson (1997)

It surprised me to see how well Thompson's 1997 season compared to other great Tigers seasons in terms of my two biggest criteria: ERA+ and RSAA. He finished 5th in the league in ERA (3.02) and 4th in WHIP (1.137)

John Hiller (1973)

Hiller had arguably the best year ever for a Tigers reliever. He finished fourth in both the MVP and Cy Young voting. He had a 1.44 ERA, 10 wins and a league leading 38 saves in 125 innings.